Mum urges cyclists to wear helmets after son's horror fall

Mum urges cyclists to wear helmets after son's horror fall

A mum whose teenage son was thrown from his bike in Old
Windsor and suffered multiple injuries has thanked the friends who helped him - and urged cyclists to remember their helmets.

Lucas Rymes, 14, was riding on a BMX track when he fell, knocking himself unconscious for two or three minutes and breaking his nose, fracturing his jaw and eye socket and causing other facial injuries.

Mum Gemma Eaton, a clinical support nurse at Wexham Park Hospital, was driving home from a shift when she heard the news.

The 32-year-old of Church Road said: "When I arrived at hospital he was bleeding profusely and the young boys he was with said they thought he was dead.

"We couldn't see where the blood was coming from as there was so much of it.

"The consultant said to me that Lucas could have been brain damaged or it just could have been a lot worse."

The mum-of-four praised the mature reaction of children at the scene of the accident in Old Windsor Recreation Ground on Thursday, August 29, including her 11-year-old son Kai, who she said were 'amazing'.

Gemma said one got a mobile phone from an adult to phone an ambulance, Kai rode to get help, another got water and others stayed with Lucas.

"I want to thank the sensible boys for doing everything they could to help my son," she said.

Lucas Rymes in hospital after the accident

She urged cyclists to wear helmets, as Lucas was not, adding: "It may not look cool to wear a helmet, but it does it look cool to look like this?"

Gemma said she was inspired to raise awareness after seeing the Ryan Smith Foundation, which was set up last month for a 16-year-old from Lincolnshire who was left in a coma after being knocked off his bike.

She encouraged people to sign a petition urging the Government's Department for Transport to make cycling helmets a legal requirement.